


Inure

by AstrumVita



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst and Drama, Gen, Non-reincarnation, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Realistic, Self-Insert, Suspense, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29194305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstrumVita/pseuds/AstrumVita
Summary: Being found outside the Walls was not a good thing to begin with but finding out you're in a suppose fictional world with the foreknowledge of what's to come was the most dangerous of all — for myself and others. An enigma wrapped in an anomaly from the moment I opened my eyes, I'm forced to accept the ugliness of this new reality called life.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	1. Prologue

_Inure: to accept or grow accustomed to something undesirable_

* * *

**{...Prologue...}**

Debriefing Report

Year 843 of July 17

Conducted by Captain Erwin Smith

* * *

**Section IV: Female Child**

Under the command of Keith Shadis, the survey corps conducted our monthly expedition outside the walls with the purpose of surveying the surrounding lands. This is part of our quest for future human expansion.

On July 16, we experienced what could only be described as a peculiar weather phenomenon late in the afternoon. Though summer, the skies were overcast on this day and though not uncommon, there was a "heaviness" in the air that was palpable. It would be soon enough when we heard what could only be described as "rolling thunder" that we witnessed a strange phenomenon. A sudden jet of an almost blinding blue lightning shot down from the skies making direct contact with the earth less than a kilometer away from where we were temporarily stationed. It's to be noted this event had noticeably agitated our horses, animals specially bred and seasoned by battles in these territories.

As it were, the lands on this side of the wall were not the plains of the south. Sprawled through the landscape, we originally had a vantage point for all four directions for any potential titan sighting. Were it not for the lightning strike, we would not had noticed the titans in the vicinity of the aforementioned strike.

Due to the situation at hand ( **See Section V: Titans Abnormality** ), neither of us had the luxury at the time to observe anything out of the norm as we focused on the task at hand. It wouldn't be until we started the process of departing that we noticed the child.

After the initial shock of seeing a young female child kneeling down in the midst of decaying titan carcasses, I called out to the girl but received no response. It wouldn't be until I approached her that I would get a better sense of the girl's situation. Wearing what I could only describe as a peculiar nightshirt, she was hunched over with her head lowered and cradling her left arm. On closer inspection, it was apparent her arm had been injured. Even as I knelt before her and with my fellow comrades watching on, the girl had not reacted to us being there and much less acknowledged my presence despite how close I was to her. Given the circumstances on how we found her and what had transpired prior to it, it was to be expected the girl would be unresponsive and in shock. Cautiously, I reached out and touched her frail shoulder. What happened afterwards could only be described as a "sudden violent realization of her situation" the moment the girl made eye contact with me. This had clearly caused a shock to her system for she quickly fainted afterwards.

With the unconscious girl in my arms, the rest of the group immediately went in search of casualties. Knowing that no civilians should be on the other side of the Walls, much less a lone child, we expected to find evidence of some group. After a thorough search, no bodies or blood for that matter was found within the vicinity or within the decomposing titans.

With the evening fast approaching, we wrapped up our quest and headed to our nearest base camp for the night. With the abnormal titans that we dealt with and the child we found amongst them, Commander Shadis ordered our expedition to a conclusion and with the new order of leaving the next morning.


	2. From Here On

**[Inception Arc ]**

**Year 843**

— **Chapter One —**

**From Here On**

_Only when we face the impossible, and experience the_ _unbearable, do we find out who we truly are_.

— Vironika Tugaleva

* * *

" _You're twenty-one **m'ija, tienes que tomar al toro por los cuernos** and face life like we taught you. You know your mother and I will always be there for you, but we can't be around to pick up the bat each time you freeze," Isadora's father said as he drove his car into the freeway. Despite the radio being turned on and serving as background music, the mood inside the car was heavy. Even as she was seated in the backseat of her father's Toyota and had a clear view of her parents, she consciously avoided his sight in the rearview mirror. Though it's almost been twenty minutes since the awkward rescued mission, she could still feel the burning shame warming up her cheeks._

" _Isadora," her mother started as she looked over her left shoulder before she readjusted herself in the passenger seat. Unlike her father's bluntness, her mother was way more positive and supportive. "You know we'll always love you and support you no matt—"_

Isadora woke up gasping for air as her arms instinctively shielded her as if to protect her from the last remnant of her memory. Though vaguely aware she was no longer in danger, she could still feel the wild beatings of her heart pounding against her ribcage, beating as though she was still living through the last waking moment. Her body did not know any better as fresh adrenaline coursed through her veins - eager and waiting for something that would happen, which it already had. The adrenaline not only motivated her body to be alert, but to sharpen her other senses as well.

Completely aware she was no longer feeling the dread of incoming physical danger, she closed her eyes and tried to get her body to slow down. To slowly bring herself out from the last memory of her dream; from the previous memory she last created before _it_ happened.

_It's over…._

_I'm awake…_

I... _survived_.

As if the word itself was a trigger, her body once again started to pick up the previous pace. Unlike last time where she fought against the rising panic, she could not contain it this time when she remembered her parents. As the eldest child out of three, and despite the ups and downs she had gone through with them, they were her world. An immediate sense of an overwhelming doom befell on her as her breathing started coming in short gasps.

"Ma? Pa?!" She called out sharply as she struggled to get up from her supine position. Unconsciously using the right side of her body, she tried to prop herself up with the use of her elbow. With the panic surfacing and the threat of it completely overtaking the little control she had, Isadora didn't think of questioning _why_ she was failing horribly at seating herself up.

It wasn't until she looked down with her chin pressed against her chest that she took notice of her left arm. So out of it she had not noticed how her arm was firmly pressed against her chest in what appeared to be in a _makeshift sling_? The sight alone was enough to reeled her emotions to an almost-standstill. Though she could still feel the beating of her heart and the anxiety that lingered, she could sense that she was back in control thanks to concentrating on a different matter.

Staring down curiously at the off-white fabric that was holding her arm, Isadora slowly extended her fingers and was pleased that she was still able to move them. Still propped on her right elbow, she curiously observed the sling and her arm within. She couldn't recall what happened during _or_ after the accident but was it really possible that her only injury was that of a broken arm? Clearly, the force of the crash — as that's what it was — was enough to knock her unconscious but not before she heard the _crunch_ of metal against metal. If the accident only resulted her breaking her arm, then she was relieved with that but...why a makeshift sling?

Waking up in a hospital, she would have thought her injury — which in this case would be her arm — would have been taken better care compared to it being tended out in the street. What she saw instead was a piece of fabric holding her arm up. Clearly whoever had done this knew what they were doing but surely, the nurses or a doctor would have applied a better form in caring for her arm. Like a cast, for starters. Though she could move her arm, she did not want to use the full extent of it unless she was sure that it won't cause more damage to it. Granted, she wasn't completely sure what _exactly_ happened to it as nothing really felt damaged to her. Still propped up on her elbow, she turned to look for the door to the room she was in.

Unlike minutes ago when everything within her was running rampant, she could feel everything coming to a standstill yet again.

With her breath stuck within her throat for godknows how long, she finally exhaled.

Isadora had believed all this time that she was in a hospital bed — where else, really? — within a hospital room with plain white walls and odd-looking machines that measured how alive she was.

What stood before her was nothing like it.

"What the hell..." she finally muttered.

_This is no hospital_ , she thought to herself as she stared across at the empty flat white bed across from her own. Next to it was another bed, empty with the exception of an almost flat pillow as the headrest. The same was with the bed next to the one she was occupying. The walls were not the kind you would have seen in the hospital, white or plaster. The walls she was seeing looked to be made of wooden planks, giving the "hospital room" a very rustic feel. On one end was a wooden door and on the opposite was a wide mouth stoney fireplace. In keeping with the theme of the room, both the floor and ceiling were made of the same wood material and by the looks of it, it was all natural.

Last she remembered, they were nowhere _near_ any nature reserves when the accident happened. In fact, they were in the process of leaving a city for another one so why was she inside what appeared to be a log cabin? But most importantly, where were her parents if they weren't here?"

"Hello?" She called out into the empty room.

' _Of course, there wouldn't be no response since the door was close_ ', she thought to herself as she quickly lunged herself into a seated upright position. As surprised as she was that she managed to sit herself up in one go when she had struggled to do so at the beginning, she grasped onto the hem of the gray thin material she assumed to be the blanket between her fingers, absentmindedly scrunching the material between them as her mind linger into the many possibilities that could explain her presence in this location.

Half a dozen scenarios crossed her mind but as one thought progressed into another, none really made any sense for her particular situation. Nothing could really explain _why_ she was in this rather bleak old-fashioned room. The most _sane_ reason would have made perfect sense had she actually been hiking or a similar activity that required to be out of an urban setting and by the looks of the walls and the sparse furniture, she had a feeling she wasn't really in a city.

"No, that's not right," Isadora muttered under her breath as she fidgeted the fabric between her fingers.

She could feel it happening again and she couldn't help but let out a wearied sigh. While she had no clue what was really going on she definitely did not want to give into her panic... again.

"This is ridiculous," she told herself noticeably aware that her voice was trembling. She took a deep slow breath; holding it in for ten seconds before she slowly exhaled. Again and _again_. After the fifth time, she felt she had gotten her feelings under control. Barely enough for her to think through what she had to do. Find out where she was and where her parents were. Though, she honestly would have preferred to find out where her parents were first before finding out the location where she was. It would ease her troubling mind if she had her parents by her side.

Throwing off the thin blanket, she quickly threw her legs over the edge of the bed before she firmly sat upon it with the sole of her feet planted firmly against the floor as she stared ahead at the single door in the room. Without another thought, she quickly made her way past the empty beds and abruptly stopped a few feet away from the door as she stared at the wooden doorknob.

Something felt _off_ about her and though she had not sensed it while she laid in the bed, she could very much _feel_ it now as she stood there. It wasn't the coldness of the wooden floor that she walked upon or the room itself that was throwing her off.

It was the height of the doorknob and that she found to be incredibly disconcerting.

Afraid of what she'll see, she closed her dark brown eyes and bit the inside of her bottom lip as she fidgeted the fingers of her right hand. _Of course_ she had not noticed it while she laid on the bed and honestly, it was the very last thing on her mind but it was the sight of the doorknob that brought her attention to the forefront of her mind. By doing this, she had consciously become more aware of herself, hence the reason she felt off since she left the bed.

Isadora raised her right arm before she opened her eyes to stare down at her warm honey bronze skin . With her left arm perfectly shielded away amongst the makeshift sling, her right arm was enough to tell her what was wrong. With a loud audible gasp, she stepped back as if putting the distance between herself and her arm.

At twenty-one, she _was_ clearly a fully developed adult, body parts and all. Her physical arm, as bizarre as it was to describe it that way, was way _way_ smaller looking. Cautiously and with her mouth agape, she slowly looked down upon her chest and her face blanched at what she saw.

"What the fuck?!" She screamed out, startling herself at what she was seeing.

She was wearing her white cat printed shirt, a shirt that was loose enough to hide her stomach that she was self-conscious about was now literally _hanging_ on her frame like an extreme oversized shirt dress. With no breasts to speak of, the front of her shirt fell flat against her, the hem a little over past her knees. The short sleeves that were enough to shield her chubby upper arms now reached down past her elbows, almost swallowing her whole arm with the white fabric.

There was no way in hell she could explain what she was seeing, _how_ she came to look like _this_. With her right arm raised away from her body as if afraid to touch anything about herself, a whimper escaped from her parted lips as she stared down at her childlike figure.

This was not normal, this was freaking _beyond_ normal, this should have been impossible.

No way in hell should she be a child again.

Cupping her forehead with her right hand, she bent over her stomach, her black shoulder length hair framing the sides of her face as she closed her eyes. "Not possible, not poss—" she stopped, realizing now how her voice now sounded much younger, so childlike to her ears. She let out a sharp gasp before she cupped her hand over her mouth when she felt an all-too familiar sensation rising at the back of her throat.

She was going to be sick, _literally_.

As far as she could remember, she had never been sick to her stomach due to fear. Naturally, she had other reactions but nothing like now. With her trembling hand cupping over her tight-lipped mouth, Isadora willed herself to slow down. To take a deep breath and just... _breath_. She had not seen any type of receptacle to puke into if need be but she would have preferred not to heave up yesterday's food.

Yesterday?

Why _yesterday_? How did she even know it was a day after the accident?

_That_ definitely reeled in her attention to something other than puking.

After removing her hand away from her face, she slowly stood up to her height. The triggering doorknob was still a few feet away from where she stood but it was clear enough to yell in her face how things have changed. She no longer had to reach down to open the door as the doorknob itself almost reached up to her shoulders.

With her clammy hands, she stepped closer to the door and was about to reach up to the doorknob when she stopped halfway. Keeping her eyes on her arm, she realized how _small_ and thin it was with the skin being taught over her stretched muscles. She dropped her arm down only to quickly reach up to her neck before she felt her collarbone through her skin. Her eyes trailed down her arm as it reached down to scrunch up the fabric of her shirt. Raising it enough to only see her knees, she was flabbergasted at the sight of what it looks to be her thin legs. With the exception of what looked to be a badly scraped knee on her left leg — the result of the accident? — her legs looked, honestly, _ridiculous_.

Everything about her was, other than shocking, ridiculous. As much as she would have liked to have a mirror to look into, Isadora had a feeling she would look just like she did when she was nine years old with the exception of her not being as frail looking as she appeared to be.

' _Huh... there it is again'_ , she thought to herself as she mouthed _okay_.

First it was the change of day and now an age? _Her_ age? How was it even _possible_ to know something she didn't know? Granted, the number just like the knowledge of the day passing just popped into her head as if it was a natural thought, a common knowledge to her. Better yet, how was any of _this_ even possible? Was there even a point in pondering about the unexplainable? Regressing back to an age was inhum— she abruptly stopped when she thought she heard voices. Closing the distance between herself and the door, she pressed the side of her head against the cold wooden door and quickly shot her head back, stepping away from the door one step after another.

Before she had the chance to actually leave her position, the doorknob turned and the door soon opened. Frozen in place with her dark eyes wide open, Isadora stared at the open doorway.

In walked a young woman, her auburn colored eyes glinted underneath a pair of semi oval shaped glasses before her sight landed on Isadora. With her dark auburn colored hair tied into a loose ponytail with bangs that framed the side of her face, she arched an eyebrow as she stared down her. Unfazed by her reaction, Isadora could not help but take notice of the woman's peculiar clothes and based on how well-put together it looked, she could only assume it to be a uniform with the sight of an insignia over the left pocket of the woman's small tan coat. From her distance, it looked to be a pair of wings? The one on the right was white while the one on the left was blue. Though the badge was not quite eye catching, Isadora couldn't help but feel as if she had seen it before based on the familiarity she felt for it but from where? With her eyes trailing down, she took in the brown straps that seemed to come from somewhere underneath the woman's coat and ending where her belt was. From there, another piece of brown fabric lay over the top of her white pants where another _pair_ of straps crossed her legs ending somewhere in her brown leather knee-length boots.

So focused she was on the young woman's appearance that Isadora had not taken notice that she was being spoken to. Had it not been that the woman snapped her fingers in front of her face, causing Isadora to flinch and automatically take a step back before she looked _up_ to the woman.

"▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ,▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢?"

"Uh..." Isadora started, taken aback by what she was hearing. As if to add another mystery into her life, there was no way she could understand what the woman was saying. Staring wide eyed up at her with her mouth agape, she listened on to another string of words that was being spoken to her, completely clueless to what was being said. This did not stop the young woman who couldn't be no older than eighteen or nineteen.

"I—I don't understand you," Isadora uttered, her voice faltering.

It was the young woman's turn to look visibly confused. With her eyebrows raised, and holding her chin in a pensive way before the young woman exclaimed loudly "▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢ ▢!"

Isadora cut her off wearily, "I'm telling you, I can't understand you. I don't know what's going on or where my mother or father are or why I—"

"Mutter und Vater?" She asked, as she peered down at her.

Isadora took in a sharp intake of breath when she heard those words. Though she was not knowledgeable of the language itself, she could understand the similarity it had to their English counterpart. As Spanish was her native language and English came in second, she was knowledgeable of other languages based on the movies and shows she had seen; granted, she used English subtitles but the familiarity in sounds was enough to distinguish one from another. With the briefest of hope — which she was in dire need of — Isadora had a strong belief that the strange language was not strange at all.

Even so, it slowly started to dawn on her, why was _German_ being spoken to her and not English?

* * *

**Translation** :

_**m'ija, tienes que tomar al toro por los cuernos** = Daughter, you have to take the bull by their horns_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you say, emotionally exhausting? Whooweeee. It's a real thing when your emotions go from one extreme to the next without having that period of quietness to "de-stress" from a situation, which is what Isadora is going through in this chapter. And the person she just met? Though there's no definite source of their age out there, I'm putting them in their late teens here, mhmm…
> 
> Also, while in the anime/manga portrays they're speaking in Japanese, I'm using German as the language these people speak in my story based on the setting of their world and the similarities to, well, Germany. Granted, it's more Eastern European than a specific country but I'll be running with German here.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
